Bill wound up and punched her in the face.
She stumbled back into the train, and Tommy reacted animatedly under his heavy gear, rushing over to help her and looking stunned under his helmet, though his face wasn't visible.
"One more," Bill said.
"That's enough!" Tommy cried.
Sarah got her footing and turned back to Bill. "Just get it over with," she said.
He put his hand on her shoulder to square her to him, then he slugged her again in the same spot on her lip.
She reeled back again and Tommy caught her. Her lip was busted wide open, and she squeezed her eyes shut as tears rolled out of the corners of them. Redness spread halfway up one of her cheeks, and her lip quickly began to swell. Blood dribbled out of the cut and ran down her chin, but it wasn't yet enough to look convincing compared to the mess on the floor.
"Close your eyes and hold still," Bill instructed. He knelt down and wiped his hand through the thickest parts of the fresh blood on the floor, then he stood and painted her face. He looked at her like he was Picasso, then he went in with a second pass until it looked convincing to him. "Okay, in the train."
He gave her a shove on the back of the shoulder, leaving blood smeared on her blouse. It might not have been enough if the incoming soldiers looked too closely, but Bill guessed they were going to be too surprised to find her with them to do that.
The telltale echo of the elevator descending filled the space and Tommy hurried to help Sarah up into the train. Bill stood outside the cab, staring at the lowering elevator and waiting for the next truck to come in.
Two more soldiers sat in the cab of the next tractor-trailer, pausing for a moment before lurching the truck forward. When they were just off the elevator, they stopped the truck. The passenger came out and walked up to Bill while the driver waited and kept the semi idling.
"What the hell was that about?" the soldier asked him. He looked at Bill's feet and saw the blood on the concrete behind them, then he looked around and noticed that there was an extra tractor-trailer parked there.
"Someone managed to break in here, and we found her trying to load the train," Bill said. "Some girl."
"Load the train with what?"
"Nothing much," Bill replied. "Just a bunch of weapons. Pistols and rifles, mostly. We've got her restrained in the front. We already checked the truck she brought, but the rest of it was empty. The guns she brought are in the front of the train with us." Bill chuckled. "Bitch has only got one arm, you should see her."
"One arm?" the passenger asked. "Blond?"
Bill nodded.
"That's her!" the soldier said. "That's the one the colonel's been looking for!"
"Well he's going to be awfully glad we found her, then."
The soldier climbed up the steps of the train and looked through the window into the cab. He saw the girl Bill described, all beaten and bloodied. "Looks like she put up a pretty good fight, huh?" he remarked as he stepped back down. "Seems like you really gave it to her."
"Nothing more than she could handle."
"All right, well open up the train and we'll load up," the soldier said before rushing back to his truck.
Bill turned and climbed into the window of the train. "Open the second door," he told Tommy. "And make sure it's the second door," he added sternly.
Tommy nodded and turned his head to the control panel. He found it difficult to see everything with the helmet on his head, not only obscuring his vision but tinting it as well. There wasn't that much light in the cab of the train to begin with, and Sarah could tell that he was nervous he wouldn't hit the right button.
"Just relax," she said through her busted lip. "You can do this."
He nodded and turned his attention back to the control panel, taking a moment to focus. Just as the tractor-trailer outside had wheeled around, Tommy found the right button and pushed it.
The second door of the train opened just like Bill requested. The soldiers in the truck backed it up and aimed for the opening. Sarah had already ensured that her cargo was safely delivered to the first compartment of the train right behind the cab, so anything the other soldiers brought with them had to go into the second or third compartments.
"Come on guys, the faster we get this shit loaded up, the quicker we can get out of here," the passenger said, leaning out the window of the truck.
Bill motioned for Tommy to join him, and Tommy reluctantly left Sarah's side, but she nodded to him and whispered that she would be okay. He climbed out of the train and he and Bill helped the other soldiers load their cargo up into the train compartment. They climbed up into the gap between the back of the trailer and the open compartment that the driver left for them, then he backed the truck up and closed them in.
Little pot lights lit up the compartment of the train from the ceiling, giving enough light to see into the back of the trailer. There was no real indication of exactly what they were hauling, as everything was sealed up in wooden crates or metal containers. They ranged in size and shape, and the passenger that had arrived in the truck gave no comment as he took one of the two dollies sitting in the back of the trailer and began transferring the contents. And neither Bill nor Tommy asked any questions as they helped him load up.
Bill felt his fists clench up from time to time when the soldier would turn his back to him. His eyes fell on the back of the soldiers neck, right where his weak spot was between the bottom of his helmet and the top of his armor; that fleshy spot that he would love to sink a knife into. He hated Glass and all of his ilk to the point of working himself up into a brutal fury. And he harbored that resentment even before they massacred his camp. But he knew if he held it together, they would get to the base quicker, and he would be one step closer to exacting his long-awaited revenge on Jack himself. The thought made him smile a little, and he decided he was going to do it slowly. And then there was Wayne, of course. He couldn't wait to greet his old friend again. Couldn't wait one bit.
By the time they were finished, the compartment was almost half-full. The soldier pounded on the inside of the trailer, then the truck rumbled forward as the driver pulled into one of the parking spots on the other side of the elevator from the two that were already there.
The elevator went back up and came back down with another truck ready to load up. When all was said and done, they went through three trucks total, not counting the one they'd ambushed. The last truck headed back onto the elevator and left the building for another pickup, while the other two sets of soldiers remained behind to head to the base.
They followed Bill to the front of the train, but he stopped and turned to them. "It's a little crowded up here tonight, guys," he said. "You don't mind hopping in the back, do you?"
The soldiers looked at each other and quietly grumbled. But they agreed. They had all been told of the situation with the girl they caught trying to infiltrate the base with her cache of weapons, and they understood.
Bill got Tommy to open up the second compartment and the four soldiers walked along the thin walkway on the outside of the train and entered it. Tommy shut the door when they were safely inside, and Bill joined him and Sarah in the front. Bill pulled out a knife and cut the zip tie off Sarah's wrist. "This is what you've been waiting for," he said, motioning to the train's controls.
She nodded to him and worked to disengage the handbrake again, double-checking that everything was ready to go. She put her hand on the throttle and paused. She closed her eyes and breathed in slowly. After a near miss, she was once again ready to realize this moment. She ran through possible scenarios in her head of what they would find when they got there, and what their priorities would be, then she opened her eyes and glanced from Bill to Tommy. After one more deep breath, she eased the throttle forward and the train chugged into life.
The headlights stretched down the dark tunnel as the locomotive slowly crept forward and picked up speed. This was it. They were infiltrating the base, and there was no turning back.
&nb
sp; The soldiers stood around in the second compartment, waiting for the trip in the cramped space to be over. And as they traveled, they couldn't help but periodically glance at the wall separating them from the first compartment, hearing strange and muffled noises that sounded suspiciously like groans and mindless shuffles.
19
Unloading
None of them said a word for a long time. The three of them stared on at the tunnel as the headlights illuminated the walls and tracks zooming by. It was hypnotically soothing, and they all took the time to prepare themselves for what was to come.
"Are you all right?" Tommy asked, glancing at Sarah.
She was staring forward, her eyes blank, and her disturbed thoughts must have shown on her face. "Yeah," she said. "I was just thinking about what Glass said to me."
"Last night?" he asked.
She nodded. "He said he'd been looking for me, and he wanted to take me back to the base. I can't help but wonder if I'm making a mistake. Maybe I'm giving him exactly what he wants."
"The last thing he's expecting is me or what we've got in the back," Bill commented. He smiled, but neither of them saw it under his helmet. While Sarah and Tommy remained nervous at what would happen next, Bill began to get excited. He could almost taste the blood he was going to spill, and it tasted oh so sweet to him.
A voice came over a speaker somewhere on the train's control panel. "Silver Streak, why didn't you radio in when you departed? Are you there? Report."
Bill's hand fumbled over the control panel, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from, which was difficult under his helmet. He found the radio at last and snatched it up. "Sorry, got a little distracted. We're coming in now."
"What's the load tonight?"
He paused and looked toward the wall behind him, trying to remember how many trucks came in. He didn't want to get the number wrong in case the soldier over the radio had it recorded somewhere. "Four truckloads," Bill said at last. "And a prisoner."
"Prisoner?" the voice inquired.
"We caught her trying to hijack the train. Looks like she was trying to get into the base, but we've got her trapped."
"Who is she?"
"I think she's the one the boss has been looking for," Bill replied.
There was silence on the other end at first. "All right, we'll send a landing party to pick her up when you get here."
"She's dangerous," Bill said, putting some fake nervousness in his voice. "We managed to lock her in one of the compartments, but she's in there by herself and she's armed. No telling what she'll do when we open that door. Get all the men you can spare and make sure they're waiting for the train."
Sarah couldn't help but smile at his cunning, and pain seared in her split lip.
There was another pause on the radio. "Understood," the voice said simply, and then it stayed silent.
The tunnel stretched ahead of them, straight and seemingly endless. Then finally there was a light the size of a pinprick floating in the darkness ahead and growing larger.
"Time to duck," Bill said.
Sarah wedged herself on the floor between the bench seat and the console as close to the door as possible while the station came into view.
There was a small guard post sitting at the end of the platform with a soldier inside. He watched the train as Bill started to pull back the throttle and slow it down. And beyond the guard post, a flood of troops came in from a corridor and lined the platform with their guns drawn. Bill pulled it in real slow, not sure whether he was supposed to stop at the guard post first before easing the full train into the station, but he figured at this point it didn't really matter.
The train crept by as the group of what looked to be about twenty soldiers congregated next to it. When it came to a full stop, Bill put the handbrake on and then leaned out the window.
"She's in the first compartment," he announced, jabbing his thumb back.
The soldiers took aim at it, ready to wound and disarm her when the door opened. Even the man from the guard post came out and joined the fray.
Bill turned to Tommy. "Get down, kid. It's going to get rocky."
Tommy complied and joined Sarah on the floor as Bill reached over and hit the button to release the second compartment of the train.
The door slid open and startled the soldiers waiting on the platform, expecting to see the one in front of them open instead.
The four soldiers that had stowed away in the second compartment for the ride began to come out, but they paused in the doorway, surprised by the reception. As they slowly hopped down onto the ground, one of them asked what was going on. A general sense of confusion ran through all of them and slowly they turned their attention to the window of the cab where Bill had been.
But he was gone now, and this whole thing started to stink to them.
And then Bill hit the button to open the first compartment.
Like a tidal wave, the scratchers poured out of the train. There had to have been over a hundred of them, and they wasted no time in savaging the men standing on the platform. The soldiers didn't even have enough time to open fire before the zombies reached them, so shocked at what they were seeing. Some of the men in the back tried to step away and fire over the fallen bodies of their comrades in front of them as the scratchers pinned them to the ground. But the undead outnumbered them by at least five times. The heavy gear the soldiers wore protected most of their bodies from the scratchers' lunatic attacks, but they gnashed and clawed anywhere they could to get at them, looking for the weak spots between the armor. Necks were chewed and thrashed, and hands and legs were eaten. The heavy scent of metal was in the air right away as the blood washed over the platform.
Half of the soldiers convulsed on the ground as zombies feasted on them and the other half fled back into the corridor.
But the scratchers followed, and they were faster.
Some of the soldiers' brief spray of bullets that they'd managed to get off had hit the train, but Sarah, Bill and Tommy hunkered down as much as they could, and none of them had been hit. As they lay on the floor, they could hear the voracious growls of the undead and the brutal cries and screams of their victims.
Everything was going according to plan, and Sarah knew everything that happened next was going to be an absolute bloodbath.
20
Scourge of Evil
A dull and grating siren echoed throughout the base, accompanied by flashing red strobe lights strung up on the ceiling. Everything felt surreal and dreamlike. Even after all the brutality Sarah had witnessed in the past, it all seemed quaint compared to this. The whole subterranean base was bored out of solid rock, with smoothly paved concrete floors lining the arched tunnels, and everything, everywhere, was covered in gore.
A smoky cloud of expended gunpowder hung in the air, causing Sarah's eyes to water and filling her nose with a sharp and bitter smell. Bodies lined the floor as the three of them navigated from one corridor to another, blood soaking in sticky puddles around them as they stewed in their own entrails. They'd waited in the train for quite a while until the scratchers had all left the platform and infiltrated deep into the base, ravaging everything in their path. Tommy tried not to puke in his helmet as they passed streaks and splashes of red on the jagged rock walls surrounding them. The smell cloyed through the air right alongside the gunpowder, and it seemed to the three of them that there was not a more representative scent of death. Bill appeared hardened to it, maybe because he was behind the helmet, or maybe because that was just who he was, but Tommy was having a hard time.
He started to lag behind and eventually stumbled over his own feet. They stopped for him and Tommy plucked the helmet off his head and heaved it away from him as if it had been made from hot iron.
"Are you going to make it?" Sarah asked.
His face was frigidly pale and sweat had plastered his hair across his forehead. His sickly and waxy eyes dragged themselves up to her under the steamy lenses of his glasses. "I'm fine, I
was just hot. I need to rest for a minute."
"We don't have a minute," Bill said from under his helmet. "You stop now, we're leaving you behind, kid."
Sarah scowled at him then turned back to Tommy. "You can wait back in the train," she said. "You don't have to do this."
Tommy choked down a big ball of saliva in his mouth. "I won't slow you down. Don't worry about me. You go on ahead and I'll keep up."
Sarah looked at him for a moment, but he seemed sure of his wishes. She gave him a pat on the shoulder then turned and continued to wade through the bodies. She didn't want to abandon Tommy, but she knew that Bill was right. They didn't have time to wait around, especially where they were; walking through the tunnels surrounded by the dead was like walking through a minefield, not knowing which corpses had been shot to death in the chaos or similarly dispatched, and which had been eaten and bled out, resting in their momentary slumber until they reawakened as the ravenous undead.
They worked their way through the underground path, branching off in a confusing network of connected tunnels and rooms. Great and mighty steel doors sat in hollowed out sections of wall, closing off certain rooms or sections of the base.
"Have you been inside here before?" Sarah asked.
"Once or twice," Bill replied.
"How do we get to the surface?"
"No need for that," he said. "Jack keeps all the good stuff down here. If I know him, he's going to lock Wayne up in the deepest, darkest pit he can find. The only question is, where's Jack?" He looked ahead at two branching tunnels and tried to decide which one to take.
"We also have to find a way to destroy this base," Sarah added.
Bill laughed. "And how do you plan to do that? This whole place is cut out of rock."
"Well we have to do something to stop Glass from playing God with this zombie virus!"
Zombie Apocalypse Series Box Set, Vol. 2 [Books 4-7] Page 38
